


A Waiting Game

by RevWritesShittyFics



Category: Skulduggery Pleasant - Derek Landy
Genre: F/M, Resurrection, SPX spoilers, TDOTL
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-20
Updated: 2017-09-20
Packaged: 2018-12-31 19:35:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,150
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12139596
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RevWritesShittyFics/pseuds/RevWritesShittyFics
Summary: After Darquesse wrecked havoc and calamity in Roarhaven, Valkyrie decides it's time for her to leave. However, during her five years in America, she may have had the intent to isolate and cause herself pain but she doesn't realize she's done the same to her best friend.~A narrative centring around the thoughts and conversations between Skulduggery and Valkyrie, as he wonders when she'll make her return, while she quietly ponders if she'll ever be able to.





	A Waiting Game

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first fic (so it's bound to not be my best work so just bear with me)! 
> 
> Any conversations in italics happen in the past tense. No italics, present.
> 
> Hope you like it!

The first thing he notices is the lack of memories. The lack of recollection of certain moments, as if the simple act of letting your eyes gaze at a fond memory isn't right. Isn't worthwhile even. Not anymore.

He picks up another small glass screen, trepidatiously, like he's afraid he's going to be met with his reflection staring back at him, from yet another empty picture frame. And of course he is. Of course he's right. She may have changed, but he knows her too well. It's as if she tried to push herself to remember who she is, where she came from. But she freezes, stops in her efforts to recall a place called home, undeniably a place not safe, nor joyous enough to call home anymore. And of course all that's left is a vacant frame, a reminder that she's far from accepting not only herself, but her past as well. He wonders if that's why she hasn't put the frames away yet. He wonders if she keeps them up to remind herself everyday that she's given up.

It's her footsteps that were once so familiar but now a distant memory, that make him turn around. He's reserved, hesitant even, not knowing how to act around her anymore. He'd be his usual egotistical and humorous self, but he's not sure if that's what she needs right now. He's not sure about anything at all, really. Not now. Not since she left, and he slipped up, let go of all his morals and inevitably made more mistakes that left him heavy and weighted with guilt yet again. The only difference is, is that this time he’s alone, left to sift through his feelings of contrition and self hatred for making the decisions that he did. Left alone, with no reminder that no matter how many bad decisions he makes, she's not one of them.

_“I need you here with me, Valkyrie.”_

_“You’ll get used to it Skulduggery. My absence, of course. I know you will.”_

No longer could he see the glint in her wide eyes that signalled an intent at mischief, an intent at raising Cain. She was blank, staring back at him. Almost like she didn't have much to say, and she probably didn't, considering the fact that she had spent the last year of her life in an empty house, with nothing but her dog and her hallucinations keeping her company. He wishes he could've been there for her, wishes she had wanted him there with her. But he understands. He knows what it's like to want so desperately to run away from a life plagued with memories of death, calamity, and hatred. But no matter how much he understands, he can't deny the utter dejection he experiences from her absence. He remembers their talk on the phone, how she had reassured him that he'd be fine on his own. She was wrong about how he'd get used to it. He still hasn't. He doesn't think he ever will.

As quickly as she had walked in, she walks back out, leaves him alone yet again. But he understands, and that's what matters.

***  
 _“What's the point? I never know what to say, and you barely talk anyway.”_

_“I just need to see you, Valkyrie. I need to know you're okay.”_

_On the other end of the phone she laughed. It was a laugh devoid of any humour, but rather filled with mirth._

_“I'm alive, aren't I?”_

Two years. A thick coat of dust covers the passenger seat in his car and her clothes are still strewn across his home. He doesn't want to pick up her clothes. He doesn't want to get rid of anything that reminds him of her, no matter how much of a punch to the sternum it feels like. He knows it's impractical and, to some extent foolish, but at this point he doesn't care.

***  
He tells her that she looks like she's doing well in a small, more than futile attempt to dispel as much of the awkwardness and tension in the air. Despite the tension feeling more than palpable at this point, he feels this odd sense of calm, rejoicing in her company that he seldom ever experiences anymore.

A nod, a twitching of her fingers, as she directs her gaze to the ground instead of him.

It took him much longer this time to convince her to let him visit. Just once more, he had assured her. But they both knew that wasn't true. He also accepts, with quiet resignation, that the next time he inevitably begs her to visit again won't be for another year or so. It's been three years now since she's left. Three years, and he feels oddly like its erroneous how life back at home is continuing the same without her, as if she isn't a vital addition to anyone's lives anymore. He knows though, that the fine folk of Roarhaven are more than pleased at her absence. The anger that he would feel at simply acknowledging the fact that Valkyrie would be met with hostility and disgust once she came home, surprisingly, wasn't there anymore. He understands now that their anger is justified, in one way or another. He realizes, with the years that Valkyrie's been gone, he's understood many things.

_“You should see what China’s done with Roarhaven. Come home, and I can show you-”_

_“You've told me what Roarhaven is like now. I don't think I need to come back to see it for myself.”_

Much hasn't changed for both of them. She continues to lead a dull existence on the other side of the world, and he continues to sit behind a desk in Roarhaven, where he feels as if his existence might just be as dull as her own. He doesn't know how much longer he can do this. He doesn't know just how long he has left before the thought of Valkyrie returning home one day will cease to be comforting. He wants her home now. He wants to plead with her, drop to his knees in front of her if he has to, to come home. He wants her to acknowledge the fact that he's been doing all the understanding for the past few years now, and that it's time for her to think of what this is doing to him. But of course, he does none of that. Doesn't utter a word, but instead sits still and quiet, telling himself that he should be glad he's with her now. But he just can't. He can't be glad because the despair he feels at the thought of having to leave her once again is swirling around in his skull, leaving no room for anything else.

Leaving her however, was as inevitable as it was crushing.Yet again, he sees himself out her door, and makes his way back to his life that doesn't feel like his own anymore. But he's getting used to it. He's adapting, he's understanding, and he feels as if that's all he's been doing these three years. But for her sake, he'll continue doing it. He feels as if he owes her for not being adamant enough on making her stay back at Grimwood the night she had wanted to enter a life of adventure, a life that would later destroy her. The least he can do is understand.

***  
Four years have now gone by, and she doesn't ask him to visit this time. He doesn't beg this time either because true to what she had said a long time ago, he had gotten used to it. Albeit he had adapted to her absence, he still missed her deeply. But that didn't matter anymore. A lot of things didn't matter anymore. He couldn't remember the last time he hadn't felt hollow, and that certainly wasn't due to the fact that he was made of nothing but bones.

_“Look, I'm sorry, but just not this time. You can't visit me now, I just need to-”_

_“Don't apologize. I understand.”_

He had resigned from his job. He didn't tell her, though.

***  
Four years and 12 months. Almost five years. Almost half a decade.

He picks up her clothes, folds them neatly, and puts them away.

***  
“Granted, he sent my jaw bone flying through the air but still, I think I handled it admirably.”

“Of course you do,” Valkyrie snorted. “And I'm sure that when he threw you into a table, you were utterly overwhelmed by your incredible ability in handling bad guys.”

“My dear, you know me so well,” he responded, the smile evident in his voice.

Even though he couldn't see it through the phone, he knew she would've been rolling her eyes. They continued their conversation despite it being three in the morning in Colorado, and him running late to the sanctuary. He may have quit his job, but he was appointed Arbiter now, so he was still occasionally called in. China would have him at all of her supposedly important meetings, even though he saw no use in attending. But of course, when the Supreme Mage specifically requested his attendance, he knew there was no denying her.

“You were telling me that she doesn't call herself the Grand Mage. What is she, then?”

Skulduggery chuckled quietly, before responding. “She's not the Grand Mage, Valkyrie. She's the Supreme Mage now.”

Valkyrie burst out laughing, and he quietly rejoiced in hearing her laughter for the first time in years. “Of course. Grand Mage just isn't extravagant enough for a woman like China Sorrows, is it?”

“I'm surprised she settled for Supreme Mage, to be completely honest,” he muttered.

They kept talking for hours on end about Roarhaven, the criminals he was investigating, and most importantly, he filled her in on how her friends and family were doing. The only topic of conversation they didn't have though was about themselves, and for that, Skulduggery was quietly grateful. Their conversation only came to a close when Valkyrie started to drift off, and he was finding it more and more difficult to ignore the administrator’s calls. However, before she could hang up, he asked her the same question he did every time they talked.

“When are you coming home?” he asked softly.

Suddenly, the mood had gone sombre, just like it always did when he chose to end their conversation with a question that he didn't even think she had the answer to. Not yet, at least. A small part of him subconsciously wondered if she ever would. Valkyrie hesitated, and Skulduggery waited patiently. He prepared himself for the same answer he had been getting for the past five years, an answer that he would recite in his head continuously, until he was driven insane by it.

Her silence stretched on longer than usual, inevitably filling him with dread. Maybe this time he would get a different answer. An answer that he had been quietly apprehensive about receiving ever since the day she left him. It would make sense, after all. She'd been gone a long time and she hadn't shown any signs of wanting to come back. And of course, he didn't believe that he would be enough of a reason for her to come back. After all, what did she have left at home? A family that he knew she couldn't stand to be around without being consumed by guilt, and a whole city of mages that loathed her. She would always have him though. But he also knew that he wouldn't be, and shouldn't be, the only reason for her to want to come back.

He was right. Sort of, anyway. He did get a different answer, but one he wasn't expecting. It was his turn now, to go quiet in shock.

The silence stretched on, but this time it was different. It felt different. No longer was the silence an indication of tension and uneasiness, but instead it was more so like the both of them were finally comfortable not having to fill the air with words that, in the grand scheme of things, were completely redundant.

“I think it's time for me to come home,” she said, her voice barely audible, like she was foolishly worried about what he would say in response.

There were a million things he needed to say, a million things he needed her to know. However, he had waited five years to tell her, and he was sure he could wait a little while longer until he finally saw her again.

“I'll be there,” he said simply. He may have only spoken three words, but the emotion that carried through them was more than enough.

“You always have been,” Valkyrie admitted quietly.

“And I always will be. Until the end, remember?”

“Until the end,” she responded, softly.

By the time he reached the airport, the meeting was over.

 


End file.
